last days of traveling

Last weekend I got to fly down to Atlanta for a few baby showers, see sweet friends, and hang out with family!  My dear friends Ginnie and Caitlyn threw a shower for me and my mother in law's good girlfriends did as well.  It was such a blast and we feel so blessed and much more stocked up on what we need for the arrival of our boys!

Me with the hostesses! They are beautiful women!

Me and our little men at 29 weeks, trekking along in the 3rd trimester! 

(And check out those adorable handmade onsesies behind! Can't wait for the boys to wear those!)

The ladies in my family: Mom and sister

Grandmother and mother in law

Got to mingle and eat...funfetti cupcakes and good catching up time!

GT friends and little 6 month old Mary Katelyn!

 My sweet and crazy friend Carly who took time out of law school cramming to come :)

My next shower was great too- just not the pictures to show for it!  Lots of amazing, warm women, great food (they knew how much I love petite-fours!), and a fun afternoon!

For now, I'm back in Minnesota and we're having our first actual snow storm of the season.  Insane! And I'll gladly take it!  Really though it's been more of an ice storm with some snow on top.  All the hype has reminded me of Southern snow predictions more than the typical Minnesotans who aren't shaken by any weather.  As I ride out the rest of this pregnancy, I'll be here- hoping the mild weather continues!

pregnancy

I'm just entering the 3rd trimester and all is well!  I went to the doctor today and no signs of pre-term labor which is exciting!  I have been thinking lately about funny things I didn't realize would affect me while having a big beach ball attached to my mid section.

Here's the most recent glimpse of the said beach ball!  Mom and Dad flew up this weekend to help get the nursery together!

1. Washing dishes sideways- I can't do the dishes without hunching over the belly or turning sideways
2. Having my husband put on my boots for me- no longer can reach all the way down!
3. Needing help reaching under the seat in an airplane- yeah, definitely can't bend forward like that anymore
4. Accidentally hitting things with the belly- whoops! sometimes I forget it's there!
5. Thinking I'm smaller than I am- and underestimating if I can squeeze through a space
6. People looking at my belly first then making eye contact
7. Rolling over requires a lot more effort now
8. Jackets no longer button or zip- which means the boys might get a little breeze!
9. Sitting lady like is hard to do- It's more comfortable to sit masculinely with belly between the legs, ha!
10. Hugs now are belly first- Even hugging my husband feels a little funny sometimes with the beach ball in between us!

The boys are doing great and growing as they should.  I'm still doing well and enjoying this last season of pregnancy.  The normal growing discomfort is here but overall we're doing well!

middle east and back

I am done with planes for a little while.  Well 2 weeks and then I'm done for like years.  A and I just got back from a little trip to Beirut, Lebanon.  It was great.  And well, I've never been to the Middle East before so it was a fun little adventure.  Beirut is a little piece of the West, at least on the outside.  Starbucks, Caribou, cute boots, plastic surgery, etc. were everywhere.  But seems to be Arab through and through.

The first day or so we toured around the city and took in everything that was Beirut!

Enjoying a little Turkish coffee- whew is that thick!

Incredible views of the Mediterranean Sea

Diet Coke in Arabic and English

And a random guys smoking a hooka.  People love to smoke there. 

It's an interesting place with layers of political grit and cultural contrasts.

Here's a bombed out old Holiday Inn that used to be the sniper point during several wars. 

It's just a few blocks from the nice and new yacht marina near the Gucci and Chanel stores. 

And the contrast of churches next to mosques that generally coexist without conflict.  

Downtown church

Downtown mosque

We also visited Byblos, supposedly the spot of one of the oldest civilizations.  The Phonecians wrote the alphabet around here and there's tons of history laid here from Greek, Roman, Ottoman, etc. 

Here's me and the boys walking around Byblos at around 26 weeks.  

A and I enjoying the gorgeous coastline.

A castle that was built by the Crusaders.  Wow.

Rubble left from the Romans when they were here. 

Some of these pots were several hundred years BC. Crazy!

Ampitheater from the Greeks.

going, going...

The last week and the next week for us have been filled with travel.  We initially went down to southern Minnesota for a staff planning retreat to think ahead for the next few years of the ministry.  It was productive but also a blast as these co-workers are some of my great friends.  With busy lives we rarely get to spend that much time together, so it was a sweet few days.  With a day break, we unpacked and re-packed for a little babymoon! Yess!

Hubby had been hoping to make this a grand "last vacation" since we found out we were pregnant.  Though it was looking less and less like a reality, he as usual pulled out a wonderful last minute deal.  I was thankful the babymoon wasn't to Iowa, Wisconsin or Michigan, which I was preparing for.

No, instead we hopped on a plane and landed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! Seriously: 80 degrees, sunny, Pacific Ocean, yummy food and me and my best friend!  It was great.  Plus, since we used frequent flyer miles to book our tickets we had to have a 1 day layover in Atlanta.  That meant we got to see our families and romp around our old town.  We headed to Doc Chey's for a fun lunch with our moms then did a little shopping and hanging out.  Not to mention we stopped at the Belly General Store near Ponce and Virgina for one of my favorite cupcakes! And I felt like the most stereotypical prego ever.  

Hubs and I after lunch: 24 and a half weeks

me and the soon to be grandmothers :)

After making it back to our janky airport hotel we got a call from my Dad that we was flying in town that night so he picked us up for dinner.  We were so grateful that our hours in Atlanta we so fueling.

The next day bright and early we headed back to the airport for Mexico.  And it was amazing!  Though laying out was not all that comfortable with an extra 20 pounds and a giant basketball at my front, we had the best time ever!

Andrew was so pumped he had to take a pic

Gotta love maternity swimsuits! Here's me and boys at the beach!

mountains + ocean!

showing off my belly after playing a little tennis

a near by marina

sunsets were gorgeous

We were so thankful for the quality time plus all the reading we got to do.  Here's what's been on our lists lately:

• Bringing Up Boys by Dobson
• A Mother's Heart by Flemming
• One THousand Gifts by Vonkamp
• Juggling Twins

Well, I've got to run a finish packing for our next trip.  We leave today for a week in Lebanon.  More details to come!

2012 thus far

We started 2012 in Chattanooga, TN at a national conference with our ministry.  A and I always sneak away for a little date to ring in the new year together.  The next day we headed back to MN with all the students.  And after the 18 or 20 hour drive through the night on a charter bus we finally made it back to our place!  I was so excited to be at our home!

 Over 4,000 students were there!

We resettled back in and spent the week doing errands and projects we couldn't while we were down South.

We also did some shopping and hubs made me try on this wooly vest and take a pic :) He's always makes things fun!

We actually spent one night totally moving around the guest room to make way for the nursery and  rearranging our office to make it a dual office and guest room.  Some cleaning, consolidation and measuring meant our home was one big step closer to bringing home our little boys! I've also been working on making some crib mobiles that look like this:

from here

I also got to get back to cooking, which I really miss while we're gone.  Though we feel at home at our parents' houses I miss getting to cook for us too.  Stocking the fridge and pantry and whipping up a meal made me feel at home again.  Here are some of the recipes I've made recently:

• French breakfast muffins: so good we've made them twice!
• Crock pot beef stew: super good! very tender beef, good taste and pretty easy. for sure a recipe we'll keep!
• Corn and wild rice casserole: good, but not crazy good
• Cheesy potato soup: a good easy and quick soup
• Roasted salmon with Latin spice rub: very good! spices made a thin crust and it was very flavorful
• Lemon yogurt cake: a new favorite! moist and very tasty without the sticks of butter found in pound cake
• Chocolate trifle: a good general dessert but not in our regular rotation
• Sausage and mushroom pasta in mustard cream sauce: another yummy quicker meal- it would be super easy to tweak according to what you have in the fridge
• Lighter sesame chicken: hubs loved it and I thought it was pretty good. 
• Roasted brussel sprouts: SO good! we left out the cranberries and added in pecans for some crunch.  a definite keeper.  

And not to mention it's been super warm up here until the last week or so! It's been the talk of the town- 40s and 50s in January are totally unheard of.  But don't worry we dipped into the double digit negatives this week which is what it should have been.  But seriously I can't complain about the weather now because it's taken so long to cool down.  

the next surprise!

A few Fridays ago, we went to the doctor for an ultrasound, "the Big One" and we found out the genders of our little twins!  It was of course thrilling! That is until my I almost passed out from laying on my back for an hour and a half.  Ha.  Common in pregnancy and I'm measuring about 2 months larger than I would with a single baby! At 18 weeks,  I measured 26 weeks size!  But that's right on with these babies.  Before we flew down to Georgia, we had a get together with our staff team and did a little "reveal."

Everyone grabbed either a pink, blue, or green plate which corresponded with their vote for two girls, two boys, or a boy and a girl.

Then we flew to Atlanta picked up a few cakes in Midtown and headed to Maggiano's to meet my parents, A's parents and his grandmother for dinner.  Of course they (and we) couldn't wait so we cut the cakes first.

And the ultrasound showed...

Twin B was a

BOY!

Here he is:

And Twin A was a...

BOY, TOO!

You can see these both of these brothers here with B's head on the left and A on the right!

So folks, we're having two more little men! We're beyond excited :)

Here's the whole gang post dinner, dessert, and grandson reveal

 Our family of 4 (at about 19 weeks)

Oh, and here's our baby website: SaraAndrewBaby.ourbabychannel.com